Moscow and Tskhinvali exchanged notes on May 12 on ratification of the agreement on pensions provision for the Russian citizens residing in Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, Tskhinvali-based news agencies reported.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin, the country’s chief negotiator in the Geneva International Discussions, was present at the ceremony on May 12.

Russia took the commitment to finance the pensions in an agreement signed with Tskhinvali authorities in Moscow on November 25, 2016, and ratified by the Russian Federal Council on April 3 this year.

As a result, the pension payments for the residents living in Tskhinvali Region are to reach the level of the pensions in the North Caucasus Federal District of the Russian Federation, which, according to the Russian Government, is 10 410 Russian rubles (185 USD as of May 15, 2017).

The exchange of notes comes less than a month after Moscow released two orders on covering the salaries of the public servants in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia.

On April 15, 2017, the Russian Government issued an order on “co-financing” salaries for the employees of the state and municipal agencies of South Ossetia. A day earlier, on April 14, Moscow issued a similar order for Abkhazia. Both orders are signed by the Prime Minister and former President Dmitry Medvedev.

According to the documents, they were drafted by the Russian Ministry of Labor, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and “other interested federal executive agencies.”

The salaries to be covered by Moscow, according to the two documents, vary among categories of employees between 11 200 (USD 199) and 24 300 (USD 432) Russian rubles for Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, and between 6 207 (USD 110) and 15 691 (USD 279) for Abkhazia.